Orioles 4, Rays 2: Chris Davis homers again. Number 46 on the year. He’s four short of the all-time Orioles record. He tied Rafael Palmiero for the most home homers in Orioles history with 25. Tommy Hunter got the save, as it does appear that Buck Showalter is gonna go with the hot hand now. Or, at the very least, avoid Jim Johnson.

Braves 4, Mets 1: Three run homers in the tenth inning are great. Blown calls at first base that allow those three run homers to happen instead of the third out of the inning being properly recorded are not so great. I’ll get over this one and won’t renounce the win because that would be silly, but yeah, this game woulda been very different if it were the Replay Era.

Yankees 4, Blue Jays 2: Hit number 4,000 for Ichiro between the U.S. and Japan. I don’t think there’s any doubt that he’d be pushing that mark if he had spent his whole career here too. Such a unique talent. Alfonso Soriano — who also spent some time in Japan — hit the tie-breaking two-run homer in the eighth. The Yankees still have to climb over three teams, but they are only four back in the wild card.

Mariners 5, Athletics 3: Brendan Ryan got to play and had two hits and drove in three runs. GIven how awesome his glove is it’s sad that he doesn’t hit better so he can hang around longer and get more PT.

Red Sox 12, Giants 1: Barry Zito was shellacked for six runs on seven hits in three and two-thirds. We may have seen his final start as a Giant, if Bruce Bochy’s cryptic comments about changes to be made mean what they sound like they mean. Even if he gets another, his time in San Francisco is almost over and it’s ending very much like it began.

Indians 3, Angels 1: A year ago Cleveland ended the year with just 68 wins. Last night won their 69th. With more than a month remaining, the Indians are just five and a half games behind division leading Detroit and two and a half behind the A’s for the wild card. Not bad for a team that, at times anyway, has looked lost. Just very hot and cold. A two-run homer for Nick Swisher and a strong outing for Justin Masterson who, last start against them notwithstanding, has historically owned the Angels.

Padres 2, Pirates 1: Ian Kennedy tossed seven shutout innings and the Padres avoided the sweep. Yonder Alonso did all the damage on offense. Or, yonder, Alonso did all the damage. Unless you actually were in San Diego yesterday in which case that would be misleading.

Tigers 7, Twins 1: Boy the Twins stink. I watched the second half of this game and the Tigers’ late rally was the stuff of both good hitting on their part but a lot of boneheaded plays and curious pitch selection on the part of Minnesota. It just looks like a totally lost team.

Reds 10, Diamondbacks 7: Shin-Soo Choo went 4 for 5 with a homer and three RBI and the Reds started early with an 8-0 lead. They needed all of that to hold of the Dbacks. But hold them off they did and now have a pretty comfortable six-game lead over Arizona for the second wild card.

Rangers 5, Astros 4: Elvis Andrus with a walkoff sac fly. That’s probably among the least uplifting walkoff events you can have. Walkoff errors or wild pitches at least have some moment of unexpected excitement to them. Walkoff walks have a sense of building tension as the pitcher struggles to locate. A walkoff sac fly is, like, “and, yep, there it is. It will be deep enough. Ballgame.”

White Sox 5, Royals 2: Dayan Viciedo hit a grand slam and that made all the difference. Well most of the difference, but I read Robert Frost before bed last night and I wanted to say “that made all the difference” at some point today.

Suddenly the Yankees postseason chances are starting to pick up and I think even the most skeptical non Yankee fans would have to admit they are not out of the race. They have not only caught the Royals who were one of the teams ahead of them but past them convincingly. Here are the latest numbers:The race for the AL Wild Card the standings through Wednesday Aug. 21
Rays 1st Wild Card
Oakland 2nd Wild Card
Cleveland 2.5 games back of 2nd Wild Card
Baltimore 3 games back of 2nd Wild Card
NY Yankees 4 games back of the 2nd Wild Card
KC Royal 6.5 games back of the 2nd Wild Card

The race for the AL East Division through Wednesday Aug. 21
Red Sox – Leading the Division
Ray – 1 game back
Orioles – 5.5 games back
Yankees – 6.5 games back
Blue Jays – 17 games back and history

The interesting part for the Yankees and from a Yankee fans perspective is the Yankees have 21 games remaining against the Sox/Rays/Orioles, (7 against each of them). More then enough games to make up any shortfall versus any of the teams ahead of them. And if they keep playing the way they are anything is possible even winning the AL East Division. At least that’s my opinion.

Here’s the thing for the Yankees – assuming they come out as the best team from that Baltimore/Cleveland/KC/NY scrum, they only have to catch one of Texas, Oakland, Boston or TB to make the playoffs. Yes, Oakland is the closest right now at four up, but I’m still keeping an eye on the other three. At 6.5, 6.5 and 5.5 games up, any one of them could go cold and be run down.

While I can’t disagree with your logic or the fact that the Yankees are en fuego right now, I think it’s fair to saythat it doesn’t hurt their cause when TB/BOS/BAL are all beating up on eachother whilethe Yanks get to sweep the likes of Toronto and handled a lowly Angels team before their Boston series. It will truly be a testament to their actual progress when they start their next series against a grea Rays team, and like you said, 21 games against the teams ahead of them will really make or break their season. And if they do make it to post season play? I 100% blame Dempster.

My friend I’m sorry but you are sorely mistaken about who Boston is beating up on at least this month.
So far this month the Red Sox have played: The Diamondbacks, Astros, Royals, Jays, Yankees and Giants. no where in that list do I see them as having been beaten up or beating up on either the Rays or the Orioles.
As for the Rays and Orioles the ONLY time they have played each other this month is the 3 games they just recently finished I would hardly call that justification for your comment of beating up on each other and your very specific comment ” I think it’s fair to say that it doesn’t hurt their cause when TB/BOS/BAL are all beating up on each other while the Yanks get to sweep the likes of Toronto and handled a lowly Angel…”
My friend I try to be objective in my comments when it comes to the Yankees and to be perfectly honest I don’t see anything in your reply that would change the opinion I expressed in my original comment.

unclemosesgreen - Aug 22, 2013 at 8:54 AM

Classic Yankees’ frontrunner – amazing how long the updates get during winning streaks. Seriously – good luck with that M*A*S*H unit and one good starter. I’m sure this is a new pinstriped reality – not just a nice streak.

The White Sox just won five in a row, are they heading to the playoffs as well?

uyf’s been posting pretty consistently all season. Frontrunners exist. He’s not one of them.

uyf1950 - Aug 22, 2013 at 11:30 AM

Jeremy,thank you. I take comments from unclemosesgreen in the spirit with which they are intended. He likes to stir the pot if you get what I mean. A while back I replied to one of his nastier comments to a post of mine, that he and his comments were more suited for the Yahoo Sports sites. And for the most part nothing he has done since has done anything to alter my view. In my book he is persona non grata. Again, Jeremy thank you and have a good day.

If the Yankees were my patient, I wouldn’t be asking for a consult to hospice just yet. Sadly for us haters, there is still life in your team. I try to be an objective hater and your reasons for having some hope make sense. The odds are still slim–you have some tough competition ahead but you are masters of your own future.

Only seriously intrested people will be warmly welcomed,Thanks,,
you have to work and use the computer and internet,
and if you can do that and dedicate some time each day then you can do this with no problem. I have been working with this for a month and have made over $2,000 already. let me know if you need more here you go… “~ http://xurl.es/jcyjo

You know it’s bad when you flip back to the game in the 9th, see 2 runners on for Tampa and nobody out, and your first thought is “crap… Buck must have put Johnson in again…” And I’m sure I wasn’t the only one. Glad to see Tommy make his opportunity count!

What a 7th! What an 8th! Guess what? When the bases are loaded, you can’t walk Miggy this time. It’s a 3-RBI double! But, it’s a double. And it’s three. He’s so good, he makes 3 from 2! How does he do it? Prince strikes out at the plate, but, wait, passed ball. Big man beats it to 1st. Love it when he runs. There was plenty of good running last night. Then, bottom of the 8th, bases loaded, Inge 2.0 strides to the plate….and, inning over. Yep, that’s about right. Well, it didn’t matter anyway, Rally Killer. We win!!!!!!

Not really surprised that my comment to the Inge-Don Kelly hater was so misinterpreted tho.

unclemosesgreen - Aug 22, 2013 at 8:38 PM

Some utility guys are that because their glove plays everywhere and their bat plays nowhere. Then there’s guys like Zobrist and Biggio and Matt Carpenter who have or had the ability to hit and to field many positions. They are great to have around.

Inge was a tweener on those two types – he had enough pop to play a corner position during a suspiciously “juiced” time in MLB history. After that he was an overpaid full-time liability.

I have a great fondness for super-utility players. Baseball player version of a polymath.

stex52 - Aug 22, 2013 at 12:56 PM

Point well made Indy. He’s not the only example, but certainly the best. If you could have two corner guys with power and six more Zobrist-quality guys on the infield (I bet he could play catcher), you could win every night.

In all fairness- despite another disappointing season, Joe Mauer’s hair still looks great. And who would have guessed that he uses Head & Shoulders?

dluxxx - Aug 22, 2013 at 11:41 AM

Yups, pretty ugly. For a minute there I thought that the Twins would be able to pull it off after a pitchers duel (can you believe that Kevin Correia was part of a pitchers duel?) through 6. They squeaked out a run with two outs, and then….. Gardy let Correia run back out there for the 7th. I looked at my girlfriend and basically said, “That’s pretty ballsy,” and of course, it backfired.

Granted he was only at 80 or so pitches, but you gotta know better. If you manage to get 6 scoreless innings out of Correia, then you thank your lucky stars and turn it over to your bullpen. Plain and simple.

Granted, the bullpen got knocked around when they finally went to them, but I believe that if you run out Fein, Burton, Perkins instead of Theilbar, Fein, Tonkin you probably have a much better result.

In all fairness, not being able to intentionally walk Miggy hurts just about any pitcher. And, Sanchez didn’t even make it all the way through 7, so there you go. You were hurt by a couple of key errors and that didn’t help your guys’ confidence, I’m sure. We aren’t a late game team normally, so Tonkin was not good for you for sure. You never know which Verlander will show up today though, so this afternoon might go better for you. Eat ’em up, Tigers!

Let me get you a crying towel and how about some cheese with that whine?

dcarroll73 - Aug 22, 2013 at 9:32 AM

At last the understanding dawns. You have done well, little grasshopper. While most Yankee fans would entirely agree that those 81 championships are rightfully ours, I am more enlightened, and I realize that the many championships won by the Giants are also in alignment with the Force.

Bluejays are now 13 games below .500 and only 17 games out of first place, and only 21-36 against the AL East. And Pillar the bluejays future has started off his career going 1 for 22 (.045) and 8 K’s.

This is funny stuff from a bluejays fan site that I found, hahahahhaha at least this person isn’t living in fantasy land like our couple of bluejay fans on this site are….

On the reporting the positive side, Brett Lawrie made a couple of terrific plays on defense. And that’s about it.

No Jay of the Day today, Thole led the way with a .040.

Suckage goes to Dickey (-.101), DeRose (-.107, 0 for 3) and to Davis for being picked off.

Also, lets give one to Jose Reyes, who got thrown out of the game for throwing his helmet back towards the umpire after arguing balls and strikes. Jose you really have to be smarter than that. Especially when you are one of the few useful offensive players we have.

OH yea, you know im surprised they even have them with such little fans of this team. But anyhow it was refreshing to see there are a few jay fans out there who are honest with themselves. I do have some good news for jay fans, I believe they are playing Houston next!! Yes that is a team you can actually beat!!! So go get them

Who in their right mind visits fan web sites of teams they hate to troll a fan base for their own amusement? No one.

I wondered how this asshole (no disrespect to actual anuses meant–they are useful, and we would be very uncomfortable without them) knew so much detail about them. I’m laughing. He’s fucking nuts, that’s how.

Davis’ shot was a bomb. Landed on Eutaw Street and looked for a while to be on it’s way to the warehouse. If anyone can hit that building, it’s Davis.

Buck will say Johnson was left out for rest, but we all know he HAD to give Tommy Gun the nod. It’s amazing, this time last year, Tommy was the last person I wanted to see in a ball game, and Johnson was untouchable. Oh, how times have changed.

The A’s sucked the mop yesterday afternoon, the A’s of course were aided and abetted by a bad call at home by Brad Fairchild, who blew the call on Ackley’s scoring via a Brendan Ryan double because Fairchild was in a bad position on the play.

But of course, what is really wrong is Brendan Ryan beating you. Two run double by Ryan off Griffin to take the lead, then later an insurance RBI from Brendan Ryan, he of the .521 OPS after the 2 hit game, off Otero in the 8th.

As Bob Melvin said:

” Ugly, ugly game for us, and it’s been going on for a while.”

Not good to lose 2 of 3 to both Houston and Seattle before you start a road trip against Baltimore and Detroit.

Astros’ Magic Number is stuck at two. After the Astros two won series in a row, Texas brought a little reality back into the picture. Still, I’m pretty optimistic that 2-34 the rest of the way is achievable.

And their new high draft choice catcher (Stassi from Oakland, thank you very much) debuts as a DH and gets an RBI. Given my reservations about Castro’s catching skills, it’s nice to see some competition at this spot. And the continuing experiment in the outfield generates a little offense. We have established that those guys can make MLB Highlight catches. Now if they can only learn to hit.

And why is George Springer allowed to stew at OKC? Let him have a warm up try. If not now, please after September 1st.

Another random thought. We need a nickname for Stassi ASAP. Any reminders of the East German Secret Police are not welcome. Suggestions welcome.

Can we have Stassi back, please? After Vogt bounced his melon yesterday and everyone started to look at Donaldson with big eyes, the G & P Beane seemed to notice that Oakland has no more catchers in the system.

I have no nickname for Stassi, but I do think his walkup song should be “Der Kommisar” by Falco.

Until I see a better replay that clearly shows Freeman being out, I still think the play could have gone either way. Even so, like I said before, sometimes ya get a break. You win some games you shoulda lost, you lose some games you shoulda won…

Even if that play were reviewable don’t think there is enough evidence to overturn it. It was a bang bang play. Could have gone either way. Quit ur whining. Love how you didn’t mention the biggest news from the game was Atlanta getting hit in the face and being out for 4-6 weeks.